I may be an expatriate St. Louisan, but I'm a Cardinal Fan Forever. Mostly, I write haiku recaps of every game. Occasionally, I write longer stuff with pictures.

Cards Squander 4-run Lead

Yadi and Looper talk strategy

It was exciting to arrive at Roger Dean Stadium today and join the sea of red-clad fans, watching the Cards take on the Mets. The stakes were decidely lower than the last time these two teams got together.

We had seats in Section 102, behind the Cards bullpen, which afforded a great view of the players as they entered and exited the field. Check out all my photos in the new Spring Training 2007 photo album in the sidebar. The Cardinals seemed to be in a great mood today and nearly all of them signed autographs – Pujols, Speizio, Carpenter, and Molina signed for quite a while.

Yes, Albert signed for all those kids

Looper had his first start today, and he worked pretty efficiently. Unfortunately, subsequent pitchers let him down, and the Cards blew a 5-1 lead to lose 6-5. Narveson gave up 2 runs, then Kinney quickly loaded the bases and gave up 3 runs in the top of the 9th. Kinney just could not find the plate today, and he also made an errant throw in a pickoff attempt.

Molina talks to Kinney after he’s loaded the bases

There were some definite offensive highlights, with Pujols getting a hit and 2 RBIs and Molina getting an RBI double. J Rod covered a lot of ground to make an awesome catch in deep right-center, but Duncan made us groan when he lost a ball in the sun that appeared catchable, although he wasn’t credited with an error.

I’m looking forward to my 2nd game tomorrow and seeing how Kip Wells will do in his first start, as the Cards take on the Marlins.

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